Fair protester gets Internet following

PALMER — A 52-year-old Palmer man who was arrested while protesting at the Alaska State Fair is a YouTube celebrity.

Sidney Hill is familiar to local residents as the man who spends most of his days on the corner of the Palmer-Wasilla and Glenn highways with his large “Impeach Obama” sign. When he brought that banner, and a gun, to the first day of the fair, he drew a crowd.

An altercation with fair security, caught on a more than nine-minute video and posted on YouTube, led to his arrest on charges of fourth-degree assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing, said Cmdr. Tom Remaley of the Palmer Police Department. Hill posted bond over the weekend.

Hill, who had been held on $500 bail, was arraigned Friday afternoon at the Palmer Courthouse. Assistant District Attorney Trina Sears said her office decided not to prosecute Hill on the assault charge, but is going forward with the charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing. She also asked for, and was granted, an order Hill not return to the fair.

Hill’s attorney, Josh Fannon, hushed his client’s one attempt to address District Court Judge William Estelle, who reduced Hill’s bail from $500 to $250.

The YouTube video has sparked criticism that state fair security personnel used excessive force in detaining Hill, and a host of comments about free speech rights versus the rights of fair officials to regulate conduct on its private property.

From watching the video, Remaley said he doesn’t feel the force used was excessive.

“I don’t know why security wanted him to leave, but he was yelling that he had his right to free speech,” Remaley said. “He also had a handgun on him, and they took him into custody. There were trying to get him on the ground and felt the gun.”

That’s when it appears fair security went from trying to escort Hill from the fairgrounds to taking him to the ground, Remaley said.

Dean Phipps, marketing director and spokesman for the Alaska State Fair, also watched the video of the incident and said fair security “handled it well. They’re very professional; that’s why we hired them.”

Security and traffic control at the fair is contracted to StarPlex, a firm based in the Northwest Lower 48, Phipps said.

“The part that’s missing from this and from the video is that people don’t start shooting video until (a situation) has progressed awhile,” Phipps said. “When (security) went over to talk to him, he’s an excitable guy, and you can see that in the video. It wasn’t a safe place to protest; it wasn’t an appropriate way to do it.”

Contrary to what many believe, the Alaska State Fairgrounds is private property and bringing firearms into the grounds “is not allowed,” Remaley said. “It’s just like going to Carrs or Fred Meyer, it’s private property. … They apparently wanted him to leave; he wasn’t going for that.”

On the video, Hill holds the large banner that reads “LaRouche Says Impeach Obama Now” and verbally confronts fair security.

“I have free damn speech, you leave me the hell alone,” he yells, adding at one point, “You’re a worthless hippy who doesn’t care about anything.”

As the crowd around him grows, Hill proclaims that, “We have free speech in America. I’m not backing down. … I know my rights.”

When security personnel discovered Hill had a handgun on him, “that’s when the whole thing changed,” Phipps said. “All the supporters went away when they saw there was a gun.”

As Hill is on the ground, an off-duty Alaska State Trooper also intervened to help with crowd control, Phipps said.

“That’s when the off-duty trooper stepped in,” he said. “He felt that, at that point, it was a public safety issue because he was inciting people to come help him.”

Remaley said Hill is generally a peaceful protester at his usual corner across from Carrs.

“We’ve had complaints about him yelling at people in traffic or encroaching on traffic with his sign,” he said. When Palmer police have responded, Hill has always complied and is within his rights to protest.

But at the Alaska State Fairgrounds, the fair has the right to ask political protesters to leave. It’s like a public school, where school property is owned by a school district, he said.

If Hill or anyone else were to show up at the fair and start protesting, they’d either need permission or leave if asked.

“That this is private property is a big issue as well,” Phipps said. “We not only have the right to (limit protests), we have a responsibility as well. The key issue is that whatever rules we have have to apply to everyone.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269. Andrew Wellner contributed to this report.